It took a few weekends, but I am finally done. It was my first attempt at chicken coop building, but I am pretty proud of it. There are two main parts to the structure: the coop and the run. The coop is the small green shed in the far end of the picture. That is where the chickens will be closed into at night and where the nesting boxes are. The run is the screened in area that allows the chickens to have fresh air and ground access. The run is necessary because we have several birds of prey and small mammalian predators in the neighborhood that would love a little chicken snack. A small ramp (not pictured) connects the coop to the run.
Here are a few of the cool features.
1) Mobility - It is designed to be movable by one person, and I have been able to move it around the yard. If a dolly is under the coop-end, the 1.75x6 board that runs the length of the structure can be used as a handle/lever to pick it up. I will try not to get all science teacher on you and lecture you about how it is a compound machine. Just believe me, it is and I wanna splain.
2) Roofing - The metal roof on the coop has a slight pitch that will divert water off the side of the coop. It will reduce the mud factor for chickens and egg-retrievers.
3) Egg Door - The rear wall of the coop has a small door that we will use for egg retrieval.
4) Overhang - The coop does not extend to the ground. This gives the chickens a more secluded, shady spot that will come in handy during the Texas Summers.
5) Recycled Materials - Jenny and I are trying to keep our global footprint as small as possible. This extends to the coop construction because many of the materials I used we reused from other projects. In fact, all of the framing for the coop and run were recycled display shelves from a Cost Plus World Market that was going out of business. They practically gave us the material.
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